This week, the genetics of dog domestication, how understanding rituals could help solve global problems, why the outer layers of the sun are so hot and what happened to ice levels during the Earth's last warm period.

10 December: Why female birds glam up when sharing childcare, the rapid refilling of the Mediterranean basin, why the probability of species extinction is constant, how modifying fear responses could help treat anxiety disorders and a round up of the best of the rest of Nature.